Class of 2011 graduates Dr. Sue Love, ND, and Dr. Sapna Patel Flower, ND, on how their friendship became the foundation of a successful practice
Right at the beginning of their naturopathic journey, Dr. Sue Love, ND, and Dr. Sapna Patel Flower, ND, became quick friends. Being in such a small class (they both started in the January intake) meant that they got to know each other right off the bat.
The two also discovered how much they had in common – they both lived downtown, had careers prior to attending CCNM (Sue worked in a business management role while Sapna was a software developer), and were back at school after a long time away from it – and formed a connection
It wasn’t until second year, when Sapna broached the subject in their practice management class, that they seriously began considering opening up a practice together.
“I had always wanted to have my own clinic and so I had been thinking about it,” recalls Sapna. “And then Sue was sitting right beside me and I just asked her, ‘Would you ever think about opening a clinic?’”
At that point, Sue hadn’t thought about opening up her own practice – but she was completely on board.
“As the years went on, we needed to do projects for practice management and we would just do them together, thinking, ‘OK, maybe this’ll happen one day. We might as well just plan for it and work on it as if it’s going to happen,’” adds Sue.
“In our last year of school, we talked about it again and said, ‘Is this really happening? Are we really going do this?’ And then we decided – we’re going for it.”
Building a practice together
Sue and Sapna opened Restore Integrative Health in the Leslieville area of Toronto about seven years ago. This particular neighbourhood wound up being a natural fit – they often met there to study and it’s in a convenient location, in the middle of where the two live.
The area itself mirrors their philosophy on health and wellness. Populated by young families and professionals who are seeking more health-care options, Restore offers naturopathic medicine, massage therapy, chiropractic, psychotherapy, osteopathy, and more.
“We refer within the clinic and also to the broader Leslieville community as much as we can,” says Sue. “Patients really like having different treatment options here, so they don’t have to tell their story over and over again. With our patients’ consent, we discuss their cases with the other practitioners to really optimize care.”
It also helps that Sue and Sapna practise very similarly and often see eye-to-eye on most things.
“We trust each other 100% with everything that we do. There’s a lot of compromise and that’s what builds a healthy relationship,” explains Sapna.
Lessons learned
When they were in their initial planning phase and announced their intention to go into business together, they were met with resistance from people claiming it would be a bad idea to start a practice based on a partnership model.
When they were in their initial planning phase and announced their intention to go into business together, they were met with resistance from people claiming it would be a bad idea to start a practice based on a partnership model.
“We know that for a lot of people having a partner doesn’t pan out very well. We’re so grateful that it has and for us, we can’t imagine having done it on our own,” Sue explains.
“It’s been such a great partnership and it only adds to the experience – we’ve been there for each other through difficult times in each other’s lives, having children, covering each other’s locums, and supporting the clinic while the other is away,” she adds. “You have to make sure that it’s the right partner, but for us partnership was definitely the right move.”
Sapna emphasizes that finding the perfect business partner is also like finding a life partner.
“You kind of know from the beginning,” she says. “You start working together, getting used to the other person’s quirks and daily routines, and make decisions to keep the business running. If it works out at the stage, and you keep the lines of communication open, I feel like it’ll always continue that way. We were friends that became work spouses and if something’s going on in life, we can always talk it out. That is a therapeutic process of the relationship.”
This article was originally published in issue #24, Mind|Body|Spirit, spring 2019, page 10
